The CEO who saved Sony is stepping down

The man who turned Sony around is making way for a new leader.The Japanese electronics and entertainment compa...

Posted: Feb. 2, 2018 9:57 AM

Updated: Feb. 2, 2018 9:57 AM

The man who turned Sony around is making way for a new leader.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment company announced Friday that CEO Kazuo Hirai is handing over the reins after six years in charge.

"I have dedicated myself to transforming the company and enhancing its profitability," Hirai said in a statement. "And it excites me to hear more and more people enthuse that Sony is back again."

He'll be replaced in April by finance chief Kenichiro Yoshida, the company said.

Hirai, 57, guided Sony through an impressive turnaround.

He has spent his entire career at the iconic Japanese brand. He joined its music business in 1984, then moved to the company's computer entertainment division. He was instrumental in steering the enormous success of the PlayStation.

Hirai's first move was to stop the bleeding. He cut 10,000 jobs and stemmed losses in Sony's TV and smartphone businesses.

Then he made it his mission to prove that Sony could still innovate, introducing gadgets like the PlayStation VR.

His last splashy move was to relaunch Sony's artificial intelligence dog Aibo.

The cute robotic pooch was the star of Hirai's presentation at the CES tech conference in Las Vegas earlier this month. He used Aibo to boast of Sony's enduring "kando," a Japanese word that means to inspire the heart and spirit.

Hirai won't be leaving the company altogether, though: he's staying on as chairman.